Emotional Support Dog Requirements

You should know the emotional support dog requirements if you are thinking about getting one or would like to get one registered. Many people believe there are a lot of hoops and red tape to jump through, but the process is actually very simple. Providing you have a verifiable disability, you could be eligible to get one of these canines. If you don’t have some sort of mental or psychiatric disability, or even chronic depression or anxiety, then you would find it very hard to be approved for an ESA.

What Are The Emotional Support Dog Requirements?

Before you can even get a canine for the purpose of emotional support, you have to first be approved to get one. In order to do this, you must have an appointment with a registered mental health professional who will assess your need for this type of animal. You must also have a verifiable disability, which can include chronic insomnia, depression, stress, or anxiety. Providing you do have a disability under certain circumstances or one of those conditions, you could then be approved by the mental health professional to get an ESA. This professional must, however, deem that you getting an animal for this purpose would result in one or more of your symptoms of your condition significantly improving.
Once you are approved to get an ESA, you can go and get a dog if you don’t have one already. You can use any type of canine for this purpose, and there is no restriction on the breed or size that it can be. It must, however, meet behavioral and social standards to prove that it doesn’t pose a threat to anyone or anything. This means that your dog must be in your control at all times and isn’t a risk to the safety of people or other animals in a public or private setting. One way of minimizing the risk here is to get the dog some minor training, it doesn’t have to be to a professional standard, just the same as you would expect from any domesticated partner. Providing it wouldn’t cause a public nuisance, harm another living thing, cause destruction to property, or pose a threat or risk, then you shouldn’t have any trouble getting it approved to be your ESA.

What Do I Do Next?

After you have your approval letter from your mental health professional and you have the dog that you want to be your ESA, then you can go ahead and get it registered. We can handle this process for you and most likely get it done in a much more timely manner than you could if you were to try and do it yourself. If you live in a rental property or want to apply for one, then your canine is going to need a certificate stating that this is OK. You can complete an online certification or we can help handle this with you and our years of experience and extensive referral network enables us to make this process incredibly quick and simple for you. To see what laws protect you and your ESA you can click Here.
Now that you know the emotional support dog requirements, you can go and book your appointment or get your pet registered. Should you require any assistance in doing this or don’t know where to start, you are more than welcome to contact us, and we could be able to organize everything for you.